Pivot Point by Kasie West is a young adult novel about Addie, a young woman who has the ability to preview the consequences of any decision she makes and see both sides of the coin so to speak. She makes use of this ability when her parents separate in order to help her decide which parent she will live with. Think Sliding Doors with super powered teens. What I liked Excellent execution of concept. While the concept itself isn’t new, I thought West put together a slick, tight execution. The internal logic held up exceptionally well. I liked that she explained not only the concept but gave it clear limitations: Addie can only view her own timelines, they must diverge from a decision she makes and she cannot view subsequent forks from within a viewing. I’m not explaining that very well. Why not go check the book out for yourself and it will make sense? I liked also that her skill was connected to that of her best friend, who can erase memories, preventing Addie’s being overloaded with false memories. No decision was without consequences. I liked that there was no “good” decisions. True to life, sometimes no matter what…
I received a copy of Philip Pullman’s Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm free to review from Netgalley. Growing up in Scotland, my parents often read to me or I read the original, non Disneyfied versions of traditional fairytales. I can still remember being particularly horrified that, in the traditional version Snow White’s wicked stepmother was forced to wear burning hot iron shoes and to dance until she died and that Cinderella’s stepsisters had their eyes pecked out. At my university, one of the courses you could choose to study was Traditional Fairy Tales, which demonstrates just how deeply embedded in the European psyche these stories are. In this collection, Pullman chooses from among the many variants of the traditional stories, occasionally adding his own spin and after each story gives a little background into each tale along with an explanation of what changes he made. it’s a fascinating read and well worth picking up. I gave Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm four stars out of five The Goddess Test by Aimee Carter Series: Goddess Series #1 Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary Fantasy Format: eBook Pages: 298 pages Buy from Amazon • Kobo • iTunes • Audible • Having read and loved Aimee…